Knobe, Joshua and Olum, Ken and Vilenkin, Alexander (2005) Philosophical Implications of Inflationary Cosmology. [Preprint]

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Abstract

Recent developments in cosmology indicate that every history having a nonzero probability is realized in infinitely many distinct regions of spacetime. Thus, it appears that the universe contains infinitely many civilizations exactly like our own, as well as infinitely many civiliations that differ from our own in any way permitted by physical laws. We explore the implications of this conclusion for ethical theory and for the doomsday argument. In the infinite universe, we find that the doomsday argument applies only to effects which change the average lifetime of all civilizations, and not those which affect our civilization alone.

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Item Type:	Preprint
Creators:	Creators Email ORCID Knobe, Joshua Olum, Ken Vilenkin, Alexander
Additional Information:	Forthcoming in the British Journal for the Philosophy of Science.
Keywords:	inflation, cosmology
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Depositing User:	Joshua Knobe
Date Deposited:	19 Dec 2004
Last Modified:	07 Oct 2010 15:12
Item ID:	1341
Subjects:	General Issues > Ethical Issues Specific Sciences > Physics > Cosmology Specific Sciences > Physics > Quantum Mechanics
Date:	January 2005
URI:	https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/id/eprint/1341

Available Versions of this Item

• Philosophical Implications of Inflationary Cosmology. (deposited 23 Apr 2003)
  • Philosophical Implications of Inflationary Cosmology. (deposited 19 Dec 2004) [Currently Displayed]

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